Like An Adventure
by Lavender Flame
Summary: After their years at Hogwarts, Molly and Lucy's mother Audrey decides that they don't know nearly enough about the Muggle world she was born in, and sends the two on quite the adventure around the globe.
1. The Café and El Rastro

**Author's Note: All right, so I got inspired to write something travel-ly and next-gen, so here you go! This is my latest entry in the Long Haul Competition III, so updates will be weekly and of a decent length. Thanks for reading, and please review!**

**~Hannah**

* * *

_Like An Adventure_

_(After their years at Hogwarts, Molly and Lucy's mother Audrey decides that they don't know nearly enough about the Muggle world she was born in, and sends the two on quite the adventure around the globe.)_

_Chapter One: The Café and El Rastro_

* * *

"This is nice," Molly said softly, fidgeting with her mug from the _Café del Círculo de Bellas Artes_ in Madrid.

It was a beautiful day outside in the height of the afternoon, but it was equally as beautiful inside the café, with the dark wood, buttercup-colored walls, and the elliptical golden chandelier on the ceiling above them in place of the bright Spanish sky.

"Yup," chirped Lucy, trying to gesture dramatically while holding her own mug in one hand and a sketchbook in the other, an oversized camera dangling around her neck. "I love all the marble. And this coffee is a-ma-zing. Are you almost done? Do you want to go up to the decks? I've heard they're great for people-watching. Or people-talking. Ooh, there's our waiter, finally—!"

Molly still couldn't believe that they were there. Perhaps their mother had gone insane. But the day that Lucy had gotten home from her last year at Hogwarts, years after Molly's, Mother had appeared at King's Cross with airplane tickets and a speech about appreciating the Muggle world. So here they were.

Lucy settled out all of the currency changes with the waiter, and dragged Molly by the hand up to the decks. The sunlight seemed blinding after the cool, dark atmosphere inside the café, and it all glinted off of the huge white buildings around them. Molly wondered what was in all of them vaguely as she more importantly tried to not look _down._

Lucy, on the other hand, stood at the edge, her hands not nearly tight enough on the half-wall. "Look. At. This," she said, not seeming to notice that Molly had taken a seat on the edge of the rectangle in the center of the roof. "Are you looking? Do you see the tower tops?"

"I see them. They're very blue."

"Very _dark_ blue," said Lucy. "You'd think they'd be cheerier. But that gold on them! So much texture on all the buildings. Look at those windows. Can you see the hotel from here?"

It all honestly looked the same to Molly as it had for the days they'd been there, although she'd come to recognize the hotel due to her longing to be there napping off the jet lag right now. She waved her hand and said, "I think so."

"Really? Where? I don't see it. We should put a neon sign in our window. Do you think they allow that? Never mind that, though. _Oooh, hola_!"

At the sudden greeting, Molly looked up more, and saw the boy who had been waving at Lucy. Tall, dark, with a wonderful smile. Lucy looked over at Molly. _"Go on,"_ she mouthed, and Lucy all but skipped over to the boy and started chatting in a mix of English and Spanish.

Molly finally worked up the nerve to approach the edge of the deck and look out. It _was_ a beautiful view. But it was also a beautiful view from the safety of the ground.

"Molly! Molly! Can we go? _Please?_"

Lucy had returned, already arm-in-arm with the boy, which she seemed to have a talent for. "Why are you so eager to leave all of a sudden?"

"No, no, not _go_ like _leave; go_ like to the party!"

"Party?"

"Alejandro invited us."

"Alejandro?"

Lucy gestured to the boy at her side. Molly smiled and nodded at him awkwardly. "Um… where is it?"

"It's at the Café Piano Bar in our hotel. That's why we're invited."

"Um. _When_ is it?"

"At ten."

"That's late."

"Eh."

"… Okay," Molly sighed, realizing she wasn't going to win this, and Lucy threw her arms around her sister's neck.

"Thank you thank you thank you!"

Molly rolled her eyes at Alejandro over Lucy's shoulder, and then she drew back. And to Alejandro, she said, "_Tenemos que ir a _El Rastro_ ahora. Nos vemos a las diez_. Bye!"

As Molly and Lucy started to walk off, Molly asked, "What was that, and when did you learn Spanish?"

"I said we're going to _El Rastro_ and we'll see him at ten."

"The flea market?"

"You love flea markets!" Lucy reminded her. "_I _love flea markets! _Everyone_ loves flea markets!"

"And when did you learn Spanish?" Molly repeated.

"On the plane, silly."

"Obviously," Molly muttered sarcastically to herself, while they were on the stairs. For once she could keep up with Lucy in walking due to her eagerness to be back on the ground.

"Mom gave us a ridiculous amount of money for the trip," Lucy continued babbling. "So lots of flea markets for us! And I'm going to need more paint at this rate. And there seems to be more in the envelopes in whatever currency we'll need with our next plane tickets and hotel plans and such. I wonder where we're going next. I hope it's Paris. Or Venice. Or Los Angeles. Or Tokyo. Or…."

"We also need to buy _food_," Molly said. "And I think it's ridiculous we don't know which continent we'll be on tomorrow."

"I think it's _fun,_" said Lucy, as they got into a cab. "—_El Rastro, por favor_."

As the cab driver merged into the street, Molly said, "Maybe we should work on a budget—"

"—Maybe we could _not._"

"We're going to thirty-three cities, and this is our first, and for everything other than the hotel and the planes we have—"

"_Mo-lly!"_

She sighed. Meanwhile, Lucy started snapping pictures out the window, seeming restless even though the whole cab ride could take, tops, by Molly's calculations, eight minutes. Molly leant against the window and looked out, wondering what the cab driver thought of their whole conversation.

Lucy had actually started talking to the driver between _clicks _of the camera. _"Nuestra madre nos envió en este viaje para que podamos apreciar el mundo y todo—"_

How had Lucy learnt so much almost-fluent Spanish on the plane ride? Molly felt like other than keeping Lucy in line, she was useless on this trip.

The cab stopped, Lucy paid the driver, and they stepped out into a hustle-and-bustle land of white fabric cubes framed by old buildings and the street and the sky.

"Remember, it's only open on Sundays and it closes early, so we've only got now," said Lucy. Molly eyed a group of young Spanish children exchanging trading cards with each other eagerly near one of the shops on the left edge of the street. "Should we just meet back here?"

"We can't split up," said Molly. "We'll both get lost in a place like this."

"We're not kids, Molly."

"_Fine_."

And within a second, Lucy was almost out of sight, although Molly could read the signs on the stands she stood between, advertising clothes and art things.

She herself approached a table managed by an elderly woman dressed in a rich black dress woven with silver and gold threads. The table wasn't so much visible under the stacks upon stacks of old, worn books.

Forcing a smile at the elderly woman, Molly went through the books that were in English, and eventually decided to buy _The Prince of Mist _to read at the party that night. When she pulled out the euros to pay the woman, she felt her wand in her purse and remembered several of the reasons why she didn't want to be there. Both Molly and Lucy were very familiar with the Muggle world and how to use Muggle things, but Molly would've rather apparated to _El Rastro_ than taken the cab, and she would've rather paid in Galleons than euros, and she would've rather selected a Wizarding story than a Muggle one.

"_Gracias_," she said, as she took the book.

"_De nada_," said the woman, with a kind, frail smile.

Then Molly was nearly knocked over by the trading-card children shoving through the crowd past her, and she lost track of the bookseller.

_So many people. … So many people._

She managed to locate Lucy's head in the crowd, the only fellow redhead in sight. Lucy already had several bags that Molly could see canvases and clothes poking out of, and groaned to herself, sure that they wouldn't be eating in their last three cities at this rate.

Molly, unsure of what to do, went to find her sister, and Lucy started showing her all of the different things that she had bought. "And remember that we still have to get to _Palacio Real_ before the party," she said. Lucy liked a packed schedule.

"Why couldn't we do that tomorrow?"

"Because tomorrow is a travel day, and I need a lot of time to pack."

"We don't even know where we're going!"

"Yes, but we know that tonight is our last in the hotel and we need to open the next envelope first thing tomorrow."

Molly sighed yet again, and said, "Fine," yet again. They'd gotten to Madrid _yesterday. _And they were leaving _tomorrow. _So they had one solid day in the city, and then they'd be off to who-knew-where.

And she had to get through today first.


	2. Palacio Real and Silken Puerta Madrid

**Author's Note: Thanks for reading, and please review!**

**~Hannah**

* * *

_Like An Adventure_

_(After their years at Hogwarts, Molly and Lucy's mother Audrey decides that they don't know nearly enough about the Muggle world she was born in, and sends the two on quite the adventure around the globe.)_

_Chapter Two: Palacio Real and Silken Puerta Madrid_

* * *

"Damn," said Lucy over the local music playing, looking up at Palacio Real from the courtyard. The palace wrapped around the courtyard on three sides, the gate behind them, two ornate rectangles with many small windows in front of them and to the right, a shorter area on the left. Everything was white—it looked almost as if it were covered in snow, even though it was the summertime. And the courtyard itself seemed to stretch out for miles and miles.

"It's beautiful," said Molly. At first she'd been skeptical of the eleven-euro cost for non-locals, but looking at the palace up close, not even inside yet, she decided that it was worth it.

Lucy looked at the papers she'd printed out on the palace and read, "_'It's the largest palace in Europe by floor area.'_ Well, it must be. Look at it! It's huge! And it's made all out of stone!"

"Do you want to go in now?" asked Molly.

"Uh huh." Lucy nodded as if in a trance from looking at the palace. Approaching a map, she continued, "I want to see the armory!", at the same time Molly gasped:

"The Throne Room!"

They looked at each other. "We can do both," said Molly.

"Armory first."

Molly gave her a look.

"… It might be closer?"

"All right," she sighed, and they went into the palace headed for the armory, passing a tourist group all donning helmets as they stood on two-wheel stand-up electric scooters, led by a man who looked almost like Alejandro.

Inside, the first thing that struck Molly was the art. She couldn't find a surface other than the floor that wasn't covered in a form of it. Paintings coated the walls, chandeliers hung from the ceilings, and statues lined the sides.

They took their time on the way to the armory, taking it all in. "It's even more ornate than—" Lucy cut herself off as _Hogwarts_ clearly almost slipped out of her mouth "—anywhere we've seen."

"Definitely."

They reached the armory, and Molly had to admit, it was as cool as she expected the Throne Room to be. Armored statues of people on horses ran through the space as well as ones of foot soldiers. "They're so _shiny!_ How do they keep them so _shiny?_"

"I don't know," said Molly.

They stared in awe for several minutes.

"So, Throne Room?" Lucy asked cheerily.

"Um, yeah. Sure." Molly tried to shake herself out of her daze as Lucy took a few last pictures.

It wasn't a long walk to the Throne Room, especially because they didn't get much past the doorway, just taking in the magnificence of the room.

"It's… red," said Lucy, at a loss for words.

"And gold."

"Very Gryffindor," Lucy whispered.

Molly nodded.

Statues of lions and people alike were gathered around the thrones themselves, mirrors reflecting the whole raised area they were on, atop a flight of four stairs on the three sides not connected to the wall. A beautiful gold table with huge candles was to its left, a matching chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

"Can we look at _every _room in the palace?"

"There are about thirty-five hundred of them, Lucy."

"Please?"

"They're not all open to the public."

"But the ones that are?"

"We have to get ready for the party."

"We have time!"

"… Fine."

"Yay!"

And so they went.

Back at the beautiful, four-star Silken Puerta Madrid, Molly was trying to figure out what to wear at the party so as to blend in. Pretty enough that she wouldn't attract _negative_ attention, but not so flashy that people would be drawn in to talk to her.

Lucy, evidently, had gone for a red Spanish party dress that she'd purchased that day, getting fancied up while Molly took a nap that she felt she really deserved.

Molly had tried to talk her way out of the party before falling asleep, but it was evident that it wasn't going to work.

"What about your green dress?" Lucy asked her, since Molly had been thinking out loud.

Molly shrugged. "Okay." She hadn't really thought of it. It seemed… simple. But it was sleeveless and knee-length, decent for the current weather. So she slipped it on, and managed to grab her purse before Lucy was dragging her out the door, to the sixth floor elevator.

Personally, Molly wasn't a huge fan of being on the sixth floor. Or in an elevator. But she really didn't have much choice in the matter.

When they reached the Café Piano Bar, Molly promptly sat in one of the plush brown chairs while Lucy was swept up in the crowd of people heading for the actual bar in the corner. A girl with ridiculously long black hair was playing the piano right behind Molly, who pulled out _The Prince of Mist _and started to read:

_Max would never forget that faraway summer when, almost by chance, he discovered magic._

"—Molly!" Lucy's voice startled her out of the book several pages later. "What are you doing? Reading? Really?" Next to Lucy was again Alejandro, now dressed in a suit. "Talk to some people!"

"I did a while ago," Molly lied, apparently not very well, because Lucy raised an eyebrow.

"Uh huh."

"Put that book down!"

"But it's really good," Molly protested.

Alejandro finally spoke, in a thick Spanish accent, his English awkward. "Lucy say you like… _¿Cómo dice 'libros' en inglés?_"

"Books," said Lucy.

"Books," echoed Alejandro.

"_Sí_," said Molly.

After a beat, Lucy sighed, "Have it your own way," and walked off with Alejandro.

Before Molly could pick up the book again, the girl at the piano asked, "You too, huh?"

Molly blinked at the girl's English, which was additionally impressive along with her piano playing. "Me too, what?"

"Not a party person."

"Um… no, not really."

The girl finished her song, and then a man appeared to resume the piano playing, and she stood.

"I'm Isabella," said the girl, extending her hand.

Molly shook it. "I'm Molly."

"Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too." _Finally, someone who speaks English. And doesn't party. _"So, um, you play the piano here?"

"Yes." She sat in the chair next to Molly. It was then she noticed that the girl wore a nametag indicating she worked at the hotel.

"So, where are you from?"

"England," said Molly. "Are you from here?"

Isabella nodded. "Are you just touring here?"

"Um… well…." Molly explained, without the Wizarding part, her mother's letters.

"That's cool. Different, but cool."

"Uh, yeah."

They continued to talk as the party went on around them, about the sightseeing Molly had done and about Lucy and Alejandro. At some point, Isabella got them croquettes that were served at the bar, and Molly had hesitantly tried one and decided that she was hungry enough to enjoy them.

Then, Lucy and Alejandro returned, the former now quite giggly and leaning on Alejandro's arm. "Hiiiiii," she said, and then giggled more.

"Oh, great," said Molly.

"Who's your friend?"

"Isabella," said Molly. "The piano player."

"Tha's nice."

"Um," Molly said, looking over at Isabella, "Lucy, maybe we should head back to our room."

"The party ain' over yet."

"How many drinks did you have?"

"Jus'… a lot."

"We have to get on a plane tomorrow," Molly reminded her.

"So we only have tonight!"

"And you want to spend it being drunk at a party?"

"I'm not—_that_—drunk."

"Uh huh."

Molly looked over at Alejandro. "Um..." And this time it was her turn to ask, Isabella, "How do I say that she's drunk? In Spanish?"

"—I'm not too drunk—!"

"_Ella es borracho," _Isabella said to Alejandro.

Alejandro nodded. _"¿Quiere Molly que la llevara a su habitación?"_

Isabella said to Molly, "Do you want to take her to your room?"

"—We can' go back yet—!"

"Um… yeah."

"_Si._"

Alejandro handed Lucy over to Molly. "_Adios,_" he said.

"_Adios,_" Molly and Lucy both said.

"Um… well, I'm just gonna… go," Molly said to Isabella.

"Have fun on your trip," she offered.

"Thanks. You… have a good life," Molly said awkwardly.

And Molly dragged Lucy—who was now protesting again—to the elevator, and then down the hall and into their room.

There, seated on her bed, Lucy seemed to tire of protesting and was now just… well, tired in general, yawning and stretching dramatically. "You go sleepy-by?" Molly asked patronizingly.

"Uh… huh…."

Over the next few minutes, Molly managed to get Lucy into pajamas and under the blankets as she turned the lights off, and in a few minutes she was fast asleep.

"You're going to so hate yourself in the morning," Molly sighed at her sleeping sister's figure, before she rolled over and fell asleep, herself.


	3. A Plane to Paris

**Author's Note: Thanks for sticking with this; please leave a review with your thoughts!**

**~Hannah**

* * *

_Like An Adventure_

_(After their years at Hogwarts, Molly and Lucy's mother Audrey decides that they don't know nearly enough about the Muggle world she was born in, and sends the two on quite the adventure around the globe.)_

_Chapter Three: A Plane to Paris_

* * *

"SO. EFFING. HUNGOVER!" Lucy groaned, still lying on her bed as Molly packed.

"How do you think you're going to do in Paris?" Molly couldn't help but smirk at her. They'd opened the next envelope and found that the City of Light was their next stop, with enough euros for a few days, tickets for a plane that left at three-thirty, and reservations at the Timhotel Tour Montparnasse, Paris.

"Better once the pills kick in."

"You still have to pack _now_," said Molly, trying to sort out her bag that was dedicated just to books.

"Ulgh." Lucy forced herself to sit up and slowly started shoving things randomly into her many suitcases.

Molly knew better than to try and convince her sister to get more organized.

They packed mostly in silence, with Lucy muttering to herself occasionally. Molly was done quickly, having barely unpacked and started early, faster, but Lucy had really moved in and was just starting to slowly gathering things from all over the place.

Eventually, packed, ready for the day, Molly said, "Ready to check out?"

"Umnhmnmhm," mumbled Lucy, still rubbing her temples, nodding.

They got a bellhop to help bring all of their things downstairs and into the cab that Molly had called, and Lucy sat in the back while Molly checked out with the front desk attendant. Molly noticed that some of his notes appeared to be taking themselves, so Molly tipped him in sickles instead of euros for letting them check out later than their check out time.

Finally in the cab with all of their luggage, bound for the airport, Lucy tried to fall back asleep, and Molly tried to forget about being thousands of feet in the air soon, reading a book about France.

And soon they'd be there.

Later, they sat in the waiting area for their flight, having made it through security without incident, scanning their liquids, electronics, shoes, and carry-ons, going through the metal detectors, and checking in their bags with no problem.

They were getting some odd looks, now, though, as Lucy was still trying to sleep off the night before, and right next to her, Molly sat with an old-fashioned newspaper, a cup of plain coffee, and her phone with her mother's message thread open all precariously balancing in her lap, doing several things at once.

Molly, eyeing Lucy who was all but drooling on her shoulder, asked, "Don't you want to explore, go shopping or something?"

"Unughlgh."

"Okay," she said, and went back to her newspaper.

Shortly after, they started calling for people on their flight—first class, business class, frequent flyers, flyers with disabilities, and families with small children.

"We'll be there soon," said Molly.

"Unughlgh."

Molly sighed. It was going to be a long flight if Lucy was like this the whole time. Finally, though, their boarding type was called, and Molly dragged Lucy over to the line. The wait there seemed long. Some people ahead of them had troubles getting their boarding passes checked, and so they were delayed.

_Come on, just let everyone get on okay…._

Finally they got through, although there weren't many sets of two seats together left. They headed towards the back of the plane, through the crowd of people in the aisle, putting away luggage. But Molly pointed out two seats—a window and a middle—and they put their carry-on suitcases into the compartment above it before sitting, Molly at the window, and Lucy in the middle next to a French-looking woman sitting in the aisle.

"_Bonjour_," Lucy said to her, seeming to perk up at having company other than Molly.

"_Bonjour,"_ said the woman.

"_Je suis _Lucy."

"Cerise."

Great. Now Lucy spoke French, too, and was interested in talking to just anyone else.

Everyone seemed to be settling, and the safety procedure speech that they'd already heard recently began. Lucy mostly ignored them, but as Molly was a bit more paranoid, she listened intently and checked her seatbelt a thousand times.

And then they were on the runway, ready for takeoff.

_That was fast. Please let us not fall out of the sky. _Molly's grip on her wand in her bag tightened.

The plane started to accelerate.

_I don't wanna die._

"_Où êtes-vous à partir de?_" _Where are you from?_

_Oh, Merlin._

"_Angleterre."_

And they were off the ground, climbing higher and higher, in what seemed like jerky movements although it had looked so smooth from the ground. _Please don't let us fall, please don't let us fall, please don't let us fall._

The plane seemed to be at a rather large tilt.

Molly closed her eyes and gripped the armrests tightly.

"_Quel est le problème avec elle?"_

_There's nothing wrong with me!_

Lucy shrugged.

Thousands of feet later, Molly's stomach having been left behind on the ground, the plane seemed to even out, and stopped rising, flying more smoothly. Molly breathed a little.

There was an announcement saying that waiters would be coming around shortly.

Yes. Food. That would be good for her. Molly pulled out the menu from the pocket of the seat in front of her and looked it over again. When the waiter came by, she ordered tea, and an orange juice for Lucy, who tried to protest, and with the drinks, they were brought peanuts.

Now she felt more settled in to the flight, although it wouldn't be a long one.

She tried to relax. She started reading again. Why had she wanted the window? Well, technically, Lucy had wanted to be able to get to other people, and was now back to chatting with Cerise.

She could feel every tiny movement of the plane, and would much rather have not.

She tried to breathe.

"We will be collecting your beverages shortly as we prepare for our descent…."

_Oh, thank Merlin._

Molly liked the descent the best out of any flight. She knew that they were _supposed_ to be headed towards the ground, and that they would soon be back on solid earth. She was eager to get some fresh air, too, and to be in Paris.

Stewardesses with trash bags started to come around, and when the cleaning was done, the fasten seatbelt light went on, they were told to put their trays back up and stow their belongings, turn off their electronics, and they started to descend, slowly.

The things on the ground started to become larger and larger in Molly's view—she could see the Eiffel Tower—and then, with a _thud_ and a bounce and a roar in her ears, they were back on the ground.

_Why did Mum not let us just Apparate? Why the need for the experience?_

The pilot was giving a last spiel, a "thank you for flying with us", and a "please stay seated until the doors open", saying that they could unfasten their seatbelts and turn their electronics on.

Then they were allowed up, and there was chaos.

Molly and Lucy stayed seated as Cerise went with the initial crowd, waiting until there was a chance that they could get off of the plane. When the crowd thinned, they stood, and collected their carry-ons, headed for the echo-y tunnel that would lead them out into the airport.

There, Molly asked, "Which way to our bags?", since Lucy was the one who could read the signs in French, apparently. Was she using some kind of spell for that?

"That way." Lucy pointed to the side of the airport that went the furthest away from them.

"Of course it is."

They started to walk, dragging the carry-ons that they already had, following the crowd from their plane. "Great flight, wasn't it?" Lucy asked, seemingly more recovered.

Molly gave her an are-you-kidding-me look, but Lucy just stared in return. "Where should we go first?"

"The hotel," Molly groaned.

"Or we could get food! French food. Or do some sight-seeing. Or meet some people. Or go shopping."

"Or find a French bathroom."

Lucy pouted.

Finally they reached the circular conveyer-belt that their bags were going to appear on soon. Molly waited for them while Lucy ran around the area, clearly now energetic from being stuck in a plane for so long, having to stay still.

Their bags appeared, and Molly grabbed them, collected Lucy, and said, "We're going to the hotel. We have to check-in and put our stuff down."

"Fine, fine." Lucy smiled brightly then. "We're in Paris!"

"We're in an airport."

"Well, we're _going_ to be in Paris!"

"Great," Molly deadpanned.

Lucy squealed.


	4. A Lost Reservation

**Author's Note: Yay, fourth chapter, my lucky number, and Paris, my favorite city. We're currently at the final seven in the Long Haul Competition!**

**~Hannah**

* * *

_Like An Adventure_

_(After their years at Hogwarts, Molly and Lucy's mother Audrey decides that they don't know nearly enough about the Muggle world she was born in, and sends the two on quite the adventure around the globe.)_

_Chapter Four: A Lost Reservation_

* * *

"You _lost_ our reservation?!" At the Timhotel Tour Montparnasse, Paris, shortly after leaving the airport by tram, Molly and Lucy stared at the front desk manager. "How did you _lose_ our reservation?"

"We did not _lose_ your reservation. It said your stay was to be last week. When you did not show, we cancelled it."

Molly was panicking. Where would they sleep? Would they be forced to wander the streets until their next flight? Where would they store their luggage?

"It's fine," Lucy said. "We'll just find someone to stay with."

Molly gaped at her. "We don't _know_ anyone in Paris!"

"No; but Vicki does." She looked at the manager. "Excuse us."

"How are we supposed to talk to Vicki?" Molly hissed under her breath as Lucy dragged her off towards… wherever she was going.

"I brought our mirror with us."

All of the cousin sibling-groups had one. Now Molly was particularly grateful for it. Lucy directed them into an empty bathroom, magically locked the door, and then took out their mirror to talk to Victoire.

She appeared in the mirror almost instantly, and Lucy explained their situation, while Molly paced on the other side of the bathroom, still too much in a panic to talk to her cousin. She couldn't even hear Lucy talking over the sound of her heart pounding. Maybe she was overreacting. Maybe she wasn't. She didn't know.

Then Lucy had put the mirror and her wand away, and looked at Molly. "She gave me the phone number of one of her friends. Genevieve. We're going to stay with her; she's got a spare room. Vicki's calling her now. And she gave me directions."

Molly recognized Genevieve's name but she didn't see her often. Not enough to feel comfortable staying with her in a foreign country. But they didn't seem to have many options.

"So, what do we do?"

"We'll take a bus to the stop nearest her and then we'll walk the rest of the way. We'll call on the bus."

Molly wracked her brain for any other solution, but came up with none. "Fine," she said. "Let's go."

Later, they stood in front of a rectangular beige house, after their trip and a call to Genevieve—an almost awkward one, even for Lucy.

They knocked on the door. It opened quickly. Genevieve, her long hair in a French braid coming out from a red-and-black beret, stood there, with one hand on the doorknob and a Chartreux cat balanced on her other arm.

_Very French, _Molly thought.

"_Bonjou_r_!"_ said Genevieve, although Molly knew that she spoke English. "Come in."

They awkwardly waddled through the doorway with all of their luggage. "You're on a long trip," said Genevieve.

"Yeah," Molly agreed.

"I'll show you the guest room," said Genevieve, and they made their way through the house—which was quaint but oddly large—until they got to the guest room on the second story. The guest room seemed small—too small a space to share with Lucy, at least, and they'd have to share the bed. But, oh well. At least they had a roof for a few days.

They put their things down, just as someone knocked on the doorway, poking just their head in.

"My roommate, Christelle," Genevieve introduced her.

The other girl gave a shy half-wave, not moving into the room or speaking. Then she disappeared off.

Molly and Lucy were giving Genevieve a strange look, but Genevieve shrugged them off. "I'll let you guys settle in. I'll be in the living room, you can come down whenever you want." And Genevieve left.

Lucy set about moving in, while Molly dragged her suitcases into the corner and wondered if Genevieve had any food she'd be willing to share.

At least they were on solid ground and below a roof again.

As it turned out, there was food. Genevieve was insistent on giving them the French experience, and Christelle was a culinary student who near-silently insisted on feeding them French chocolate everything as test runs.

Not that Molly was complaining. With chocolate tarts, mousse, croissants, and quiche available, everyone seemed more relaxed.

"So, what do you… do?" Lucy asked Genevive.

"I'm interning at the French Ministry of Magic," said Genevieve. "But I'm waiting to teach at Beauxbatons. So I'm interning in the Department of Magical Education here."

"What do you want to teach?"

"Probably Charms. But I'll probably take what opens first."

Molly, only occasionally in the conversation, continued picking at her chocolate mousse. She was full, now, but France _was_ known for its food….

"And what are _you_ two doing in France?"

Lucy explained about their mother's letters and the Muggle world.

"I guess she'd rather you stay in a hotel than with us," smiled Genevieve.

Lucy shrugged, then seemed to remember something. "Oh—we should probably tell her we _are_ here! Can I use your owl?"

"Yeah," said Genevieve, and went to get their gray-and-black owl, who Lucy sent off with a letter to their mother.

"So, you've been doing a lot of sight-seeing?"

"Well, we've only been to Madrid so far," said Lucy.

"I can take you around tomorrow," Genevieve offered. "You're probably tired from the plane."

Lucy shrugged. Out of her sightline at the moment, Molly nodded dramatically and mouthed, _"YES."_

"I don't think you want to go out to eat after all this," Genevieve added.

Molly actually laughed.

Lucy said, "I still feel a bit sick from last night, too," and then explained their "wild party adventure" while Molly rolled her eyes.

And then they went back to trying to come up with things to do, since Lucy, apparently, still didn't want to spend all of their time in Paris in the house.

"We could shop," said Genevieve, and Lucy visibly lit up at that suggestion.

Molly groaned to herself.

"Yes!" exclaimed Lucy. "Shopping in Paris!"

"We can go now," said Genevieve. "It's a short walk to a block of shops."

Lucy looked at Molly, hands clasped pleadingly.

"Fine."

"Yay! Let's go."

So, with Christelle opting to stay behind and Molly being sorely tempted to stay with her, but not wanting to be rude, the three set out.

Genevieve had apparently exaggerated the shortness of the walk to the shops—Molly felt out of breath by the time that they were there. Lucy, though, snapped pictures of everything on the narrow streets surrounded by shop windows, seemingly tireless as compared to that morning.

They went in and out of small stores, lots of ones with clothes—which Lucy loved; Molly even talked them into going into one with books, which she tried to not take too long in, although she only bought one book—_The Little Prince_, which sounded similar to her last selection in its title though in nothing else.

Molly made a vow then to buy one book in every city as her souvenir. She would make a shelf of them—yes, that sounded nice. A worldly book collection.

Lucy emerged from every clothing store wearing different—and often more—accessories, and with more and more bags.

"Lucy, we need to _eat!" _

"There are continental meals," Lucy would brush her off.

"And pay for hotel things—"

"—There's more money in the envelopes."

"You're going to want to shop in other places, too."

"But it's Paris!"

"That's what you said about Madrid."

"Madrid isn't Paris."

Molly sighed. She was content with her book idea. So she started reading while they walked, trying to do so without Genevieve—who might find it stranger than Lucy, who was used to her sister—noticing. But on the unfamiliar streets, she kept running into things, unlike she did at home.

Lucy was also falling back on old habits, though, in also going through the photos she was taking to see ones that she wanted to paint versions of, or maybe draw, or maybe use her new pastels for—

Shopping was very tiring for Molly, but apparently not for the other two. But even they had to tire out. Eventually they were walking back towards "home", even Lucy starting to yawn.

_Maybe I'll get a peaceful night, _Molly thought hopefully.

Back at the house later in the evening, Molly and Lucy got more comfortable and talked more to Genevieve and Christelle, who actually got involved in the conversations a bit with Molly.

Lucy frowned over how her shopping habits were filling up her suitcase space, with Genevieve offering to owl some of the art things to their home for them, and Molly and Christelle talked French books.

Molly thought that it was strange, how with certain people you could find a sense of home anywhere on the globe.

_Now if only I had my own bed…._


	5. Into the City of Lights

**Author's Note: And we see a bit more of Paris in this chapter, yay Paris. Still my favorite city. Thanks for reading!**

**~Hannah**

* * *

_Like An Adventure_

_(After their years at Hogwarts, Molly and Lucy's mother, Audrey, decides that they don't know nearly enough about the Muggle world she was born in, and sends the two on quite the adventure around the globe.)_

_Chapter Five: Into the City of Lights_

* * *

Someone—her _darling_ little sister, to be specific—was bouncing on the bed. "Get up, get up!" she called, much too loudly for the time of the morning. She shook Molly almost violently enough that she fell off the other side of the bed.

"I'm up," Molly groaned, burying her face in her pillow.

"You don't _seem_ very _up,_" said Lucy, stopping her bouncing and shaking her sister.

"Leave me alone and I'll _get_ up."

"Christelle made crepes! With whipped cream and chocolate syrup and strawberry sauce!"

"I'm getting up, I'm getting up!" Molly snapped, despite her best efforts at patience.

Lucy pouted at her. "Fine. But don't blame me if there aren't any crepes left for you." And she hopped up and left the room.

Molly forced herself to stand, and got dressed, throwing on the first outfit in her suitcase. Then she made herself go downstairs to deal with everyone and eat—but she still felt sick from all of the jetlag, all of the flying, all of the travelling, all of the dealing with Lucy, all of the… everything. She was in a better mood once she could smell the crepes downstairs, however, and she felt even more better once she started eating.

Everyone else—well, Lucy and Genevieve, Christelle was as almost-silent as usual—talked, but Molly just tried to wake up.

The high amount of sugar in breakfast seemed to be helping, though, and then they all finished getting ready for the day—for another long day of sightseeing.

It wasn't that Paris wasn't pretty, it was just that Molly didn't feel like walking. Or moving. Or breathing. Or pretty much putting effort into anything.

But then they were heading out—first stop, the Eiffel Tower.

Molly was wary of Genevieve and Lucy's talk of going to the top of the tower. She really preferred to stay on the ground. But if they went, she knew that she would have very little choice in the matter.

She should've found a reason to stay home with Christelle.

The tower was just about always in sight, but as they approached, Lucy gasped, "It's so tall! You really don't see the scale on the postcards."

"Uh huh." Molly felt sick to her stomach.

In a flurry of things, they bought their tickets, waited, and got in the elevator. It seemed to take forever. Molly closed her eyes and clutched the handlebars.

Lucy and Genevieve looked at each other.

Then the doors opened. At first Molly felt panic at being out in the open air, then she felt relieved at being able to get out of the elevator, and then she felt panic again.

The city… all the buildings she'd been looking _up_ at just minutes ago, were now tiny dots before her eyes. She could clearly see every road in the city, and the courtyard that stretched out just in front of them.

And it was a _long, _straight drop down.

Other tourists surrounded them—she wondered if any of them might go crazy and start shoving people over the edge.

Lucy and Genevieve seemed to want to stay there forever, but Molly stayed away from the edge and looked out, straight out, not down, and tried to breathe.

"Everything is so tiny from up here! And there _are_ so many lights! Can you imagine how it must look at night?"

Molly felt even sicker at the idea of being at the top of the tower at night.

But at last, they joined the group going in the elevator to go back down. At least this time they were heading back towards the safety of the ground, and she knew the elevator was _supposed_ to be dropping.

"So, where to next?" asked Lucy.

"Arc de Triomphe?" Genevieve suggested.

"Sure," said Molly and Lucy at the same time. Lucy would've agreed to anything that was sight-seeing in Paris, and Molly just wanted to look at something from the ground.

"To the Arc de Triomphe, then!" said Genevieve, and they headed out.

The Arc de Triomphe didn't look so much triumphant as… solid. It looked very heavy—that was one of the first things that Molly observed, and she was worried about feeling worried when standing underneath it. But the ceiling was so high that the ornate arch falling in didn't seem like that much of a concern.

"Somehow I always pictured it in gold," said Lucy as she snapped more pictures, just like she had at the tower. "But it's very gray."

"The lights make it look gold at night," said Genevieve. "If you looked up pictures, you might have found those."

"Oh," said Lucy. "Well, that makes sense."

Molly decided to occupy herself with taking some pictures, as well, of the long lists of words—names?—that she didn't understand on the inside of the arch.

There was a taller area in the middle, brighter, that they moved in to, although it was a bit more crowded. Some groups had actual guides, and Molly eavesdropped on what the guides were saying.

"_The Arc was commissioned by Napoleon to celebrate his own victories in the early 1800's, and it wasn't completed until 1836…."_

Molly looked up at the strange pictures on the ceiling, and the people half-statues that were between them and the lists of words.

The Arc _was_ a very pretty sight, and Molly could appreciate that. Genevieve was a good guide, herself, talking more about the Arc's history with Lucy.

Molly listened but didn't say anything, just looking around in awe.

She was more sad then than she had been at the Eiffel Tower when they decided to find their way back out from the tourist groups, headed this time for Notre Dame. Molly was excited to see it—she'd seen a lot of photos in her research, and it looked stunning.

Notre Dame was six and a half kilometers away, so they decided to take the bus.

Molly felt very content on bus rides, liking to get a bit lost in her thoughts and look out the window—especially in a city like Paris. Lucy sat next to her and Genevieve across the aisle, talking away, but Molly looked out. The city seemed very different from home—but everywhere did. They really _hadn't_ seen a lot of the world.

Soon the bus came to a stop at their station, so they got off the bus, and made the rest of the journey until they stood at the entrance to Notre Dame.

"Dang," said Lucy.

Molly echoed her.

Genevieve smiled at the two tourist sisters.

It was also huge and ornate, and it looked more like a castle than a cathedral, more like Hogwarts than anywhere else that Molly had seen, but perhaps lighter in color. They went in, and it was the quietest Molly had heard Lucy be in a long time. They were surrounded by people praying, by golden pillars and windows and shiny floors. The ceiling was again high, high above them.

Lucy started taking more pictures. Molly couldn't even remember how to work her phone's camera, just staring in awe. It looked a lot like the Great Hall, except, well… greater.

Suddenly she regretted her thought of staying home. This was definitely worth seeing, even if it wasn't the icon of Paris—which had only made her feel nervous.

"It's dedicated to the Virgin Mary," Genevieve was telling Lucy. "It took almost ninety _years _to build."

Molly could imagine. Even with magic or modern technology, building it again likely would've taken ninety years with all of the details.

They stayed there for quite a while, until Genevieve reminded them that they should be getting home—they'd told Christelle that they'd be there for dinner.

But the whole journey home, Lucy and Molly were just looking at all the pictures they'd taken, like excited children, and Genevieve laughed at them a little.

At the house, they showed Christelle everything, too, and even Molly talked more than usual during dinner about the events of the day.

It had definitely gone uphill, and everything had been worth it—Paris was worth it.

It was even worth the plane ride that they'd be facing tomorrow—off to who knew where.

And there would be many more beautiful sights to see wherever they went.

Molly felt almost excited.


	6. A View from Italy

**Author's Note: New city, new adventures! Thank you for reading!**

**~Hannah**

* * *

_Like An Adventure_

_(After their years at Hogwarts, Molly and Lucy's mother, Audrey, decides that they don't know nearly enough about the Muggle world she was born in, and sends the two on quite the adventure around the globe.)_

_Chapter Six: A View from Italy_

* * *

The first part of the day went almost in a rush—packing, getting ready, opening the envelope (they were going to Venice), bidding farewell to Genevieve and Christelle, getting to the airport, getting on the plane to Venice, getting off the plane in Venice, going to the hotel (Hotel Al Ponte dei Sospiri), and settling in.

Now, Molly looked out the window at the view, peeking around the curtains. She could see the narrow canals, the old buildings, the bridges and tunnels. Their room had an excellent view, and the room itself was quite large, in an odd shape, lavish—all golds and dark colors.

Lucy was lying on the bed—they had to share here, too, a downside of getting the view room. She seemed to have tired herself out by talking incessantly to the boy sitting next to her on the flight.

He _had_ been cute, Molly had to admit, with the Italian accent and all. But he was much more Lucy's type than hers. Maybe she just liked him because he'd managed to get her sister to be quiet in the hotel.

She felt the odd urge to explore the area around the hotel—although she was completely sure about navigating the canals. But then she thought of the book on them that she'd already bought at the airport, and… well, she decided to stay in the hotel for a while.

"Move," she told Lucy, who was taking up all of the space on the bed, where Molly wanted to read.

"Make me." Lucy seemed tired.

Molly shoved her.

Lucy scooted over just enough that Molly could sit against the headboard, her legs tilted off of the bed. She read, and eventually Lucy got up to organize her clothes in the storage space, letting Molly get comfortable.

"So what do you think is around the hotel?" asked Lucy, and Molly almost groaned at the thought of her sister being awake again.

"I thought we agreed to stay in," said Molly.

"Well, we have to _eat_," Lucy said.

"We can order room service."

"But it's Italy! We can't just order _room service_!"

Molly sighed. "It'll be Italian room service."

"Do you have any idea what you sound like? '_It'll be Italian room service'_!" she mocked. "I'm finding us a restaurant and we're going!"

Well, it apparently turned out that Lucy wasn't good at researching places, because she soon enlisted a reluctant Molly's help. They found _Ai Mercanti_, a quiet restaurant known for its fish.

Molly _was_ hungry. "Fine," she said.

So they set out for the restaurant, and once there, were told that they'd only have to wait a few minutes. That was good. Molly'd spent so much of the day dealing with airport things that she was very opposed to long waits.

Lucy looked around the rather dark restaurant waiting area until they heard a call of "Weasley for two", and they followed their waiter to a booth table. It was a very nice place, Molly decided, although with their short amount of time in each city, she wasn't sure that repeat visits were going to happen—and of course, they hadn't had the food yet, and that was how she judged restaurants.

When they were asked about drinks from their friendly waiter whose nametag read _Celia, _Lucy ordered the wine recommended, and Molly ordered water.

"You're so boring," Lucy pouted at her.

Molly shrugged. "I don't like hangovers."

"Uh huh."

Their drinks soon arrived, and they placed their orders, both for fish things. Molly almost didn't care what they ate—as long as it was edible and preferably Italian. Lucy, though, had been a bit more adventurous in ordering than Molly had.

Their food arrived, and Molly frowned at the rather small amount of food on her plate. It _looked_ beautiful, smelled wonderful, but there was very little of it. She decided to dig in, however, since it wasn't like she was going to complain—

"Small portions," said Lucy, before Molly could voice it to her sister. "Weird. Mine's great, though. How's yours?"

Molly tried her food, and nodded. "Pretty good," she said. It was well seasoned and cooked to the perfect time but she wasn't a very good food appreciator. She would've eaten whatever they brought out at that point, after being on a plane most of the day.

They both continued eating, and Lucy said, "This is a nice place. I think a lot of people are here on dates, though."

Molly looked around—most of the tables were for two, and most of the people at them _did_ appear to be on dates. She nodded. "Well, you never know."

"Very romantic," Lucy continued. "I wish Leo—" the boy from the plane "—could be here."

Molly nodded. He would've fit right in, versus her own awkward attempt to order the Italian-named dishes. Lucy was apparently a language expert, now, and had admitted to using _"a little"_ magic to help her. Just "a little".

The waiter, clearing their dishes, asked if they'd like desert, and Lucy gave Molly the puppy dog eyes. So Molly let her order a dish that she assumed translated to a variety of chocolate things, and Lucy ate most of it when it arrived. Molly had some—and it was very good—but very rich, and she was full.

They moved slowly going back to the hotel, Lucy raving about the wine and the chocolate the whole way. Now they were both especially sleepy, having eaten, and it was later.

"Where should we eat tomorrow?" asked Lucy, and Molly almost laughed.

"Let's focus on finding the hotel," she said.

They got back there fairly easily, although all of this moving on their trip was killing Molly, and in their room, they prepared for bed. Thank Merlin Lucy was planning on sleeping.

Molly thought that if they'd had more time, she would've wanted to spend quite a bit of it in the hotel—it was very fancy, indeed. Everything in Italy seemed to be, even though everything also seemed to be old—more antique.

She read for a little while before bed, while Lucy watched television in Italian, using a subtle spell to translate it. It was some sort of cliché soap opera, and Molly wondered if her sister had even considered watching _anything_ else.

She tried to block it out and read.

Then she decided that her eyes hurt too much and she wanted to sleep too much, so she closed her book, set it aside, shut the light on her side of the bed, laid down, said, "Goodnight," to Lucy, and rolled over to face away from the television.

She tried to think of all the things they could do the next day—gondola rides and monuments to see and bridges and more Italian food. Squares, art museums, wine, the Grand Canal, and music….

Molly willed herself to dream about those things, to sleep deeply while her sister tried to suffocate her or push her off the bed.

Maybe Venice would be her city. Maybe this was when the trip would really get good for her.

At some point, Lucy shut the television off, the other light, and went to sleep, too. She fell asleep before Molly did even though Molly had settled down sooner.

"Goodnight," Lucy whispered into the dark.

"Night," said Molly.

Then she heard Lucy snoring, and she really couldn't sleep.

_Gondola rides and monuments and bridges and food and squares art museums and wine and the Grand Canal and music, _she made herself think, going through the list over and over again. They really only had the one day, though. Why did they have to see all of the world, instead of a bit of it thoroughly? And was her mother _intentionally _making her spend so much time with her little sister?

Molly felt like she had a lot of questions for someone on vacation—who knew what would happen when they got back?—and she still urged herself to sleep, and have happy dreams.

_Gondola rides and monuments and bridges and food and squares art museums and wine and the Grand Canal and music._

_What will the next city be?_

_Will we ever go to two in the same country?_

_What if we have to fly really far, on the other hand?_

_What if our next plane crashes?_

_What if they lose our reservations again?_

With all of those questions still in mind, Molly finally fell asleep.


	7. A Day in Venice

**Author's Note: We are in the final five of the Long Haul Competition! And in the story, we are in the beautiful city of Venice, Italy. Thank you for your support.**

**~Hannah**

* * *

_Like An Adventure_

_(After their years at Hogwarts, Molly and Lucy's mother, Audrey, decides that they don't know nearly enough about the Muggle world she was born in, and sends the two on quite the adventure around the globe.)_

_Chapter Seven: A Day in Venice_

* * *

In the morning there was a debate about breakfast.

"Just order the continental in the room," said Molly, not wanting to go out to every meal.

"What kind of Venice experience is that?"

"The one where we get to relax, Lucy!"

"Eating is always relaxing!"

Molly sighed. She wasn't going to win this fight, so it was probably going to be best to give up now, and save her energy for later ones. "Fine."

So they went over to the Sister Hotel Dona Palace, up some stairs, to the American Buffet Breakfast. Lucy evidently was very hungry, choosing bacon, potatoes, toast, and a waffle, while Molly just had a pastry and some coffee.

"What are we doing today?" Molly asked, since it was really up to Lucy.

"Grand Canal," Lucy started. "Bridge of Sighs. Gallerie dell'Accademia. And Happy Hour at our hotel."

It sounded like a big day. "Okay," Molly said, not wanting to fight, and truly objecting only to the Happy Hour, although she knew she'd never talk Lucy out of it.

"Just 'okay'?"

"Yes."

Lucy frowned at her sister. "Well, we should get going."

And so they set out.

They boarded a gondola on the Grand Canal, a little boat in a big water corridor smelling like the lagoons. It _was_ very grand, very wide, with quite ornate, colorful buildings on the sides of the teal water. Lucy took pictures of it all.

Molly, though, was content to see it in person, sitting and relaxing while they toured the area. It was strange to think that around them were just people going about their everyday lives—some tourists like themselves, of course, but for some of them… it was normal. The chatter of people surrounded them.

They travelled through the s-shape, and Molly wondered about how deep the water was. And the buildings were old—"Thirteenth to eighteenth century," Lucy said—so she wondered how they weren't eroded away by the water.

There were also very few places to cross—wasn't that annoying for the locals? Molly could never live there. But maybe she was just being negative.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Lucy kept cooing, and Molly agreed. Beautiful, but not practical.

Lucy also rattled off facts from the tour books. "It's the largest canal in Venice, since it's about four kilometers long, thirty to ninety meters wide, and usually about five meters deep."

That… was big. Molly's concerns about them drowning increased. She sweated a bit more under the weight of all of the humidity, and tried to focus on the buildings around them instead of the water.

"_One-hundred seventy buildings, to be exact,_" Lucy said.

When they disembarked that gondola, Molly was relieved, although it was still the main form of transport in the city—and soon they'd be off to the Bridge of Sighs.

Molly sighed. Again. But this time it was on the Bridge of Sighs, as they looked out between the stone bars of the (enclosed, how had she missed that?) bridge.

"It's called the Bridge of Sighs because it connects a prison and interrogation rooms over the Rio di Palazzo Canal," said Lucy, reading and paraphrasing. "It was the last view the prisoners would see and so they would sigh."

"Cheery," deadpanned Molly. The bridge seemed like a prison what with the bars, although it, too, was quite beautiful. The sun gleamed off of the white surface,

"It was built out of limestone in 1600 by Antonio Contino."

1600… was everything here old? That didn't seem very safe. Molly only offered, "Hmm," as she continued looking out at the Canal. Other tourists around them also snapped pictures. Molly wondered if the locals ever went sightseeing or if they only saw things in passing. That seemed sort of sad.

"For a book person, you haven't read a lot of the tour books," said Lucy.

"I'm more into fiction," was all Molly could think to say. Oddly, she didn't think of Lucy as a reader, as particularly curious, but she _had_ been on it with the languages and monument facts. _Hmm,_ Molly thought to herself, instead of out loud.

It occurred to her, thinking of Lucy's personality, that they hadn't made any friends in Venice so far, and it seemed to be the longest time they'd spent in a country without doing so. But then, Lucy would probably find some people at Happy Hour.

Molly needed to buy a Venice book before then. Maybe one on the legends of the Bridge that they were currently standing on.

They decided to move on, but they wanted to take a break before the art museum, so they decided to go to the Mercerie—the shopping area—of Venice, for some more relaxed shopping and maybe some eating.

Lucy again ran off, giving the advice, "The Internet says if you buy more than one thing, they'll give you the better quality supply."

Molly went into a souvenir store to buy her Venice book, and decided to buy something else just to please her sister, and settled on a small, plastic model gondola along with the book, _The Aspern Papers._

She was lingering in the shop trying to figure out how to find Lucy when her sister returned, saying, "The Grand Canal Restaurant!"

"What?"

"That's where we're eating." She started to drag her sister off. "I talked to the cashier—" Lucy, indeed, had many more bags, and Molly rolled her eyes "—and they said that was where they had the reception of their sister's party for…." (She continued on, but Molly stopped listening.)

They reached the restaurant rather quickly, actually, although there was a long wait. It was nice, though, because Molly got to sit down and relax for a few minutes, even if Lucy was still babbling on.

They were seated outdoors, on a patio overlooking the canal made of dark wood and white tablecloths, and they placed their orders.

Lucy started talking about the art museum that they were going to, so Molly decided to listen. "It's all Venice painters. Very religious. And from about the same centuries as the buildings, but it was mostly done in 1756."

Molly nodded along, and their food came soon. They started to eat, and so Molly asked, "What _exactly_ is the plan with Happy Hour at the hotel?" She felt nervous about that part.

Lucy shrugged. "We'll get some cheaper drinks and we'll meet some people," she said.

"Do you really want to be hungover on a plane again?"

"I won't be _hungover. _I won't drink as much. Promise."

Molly tried not to laugh.

"_Really."_

"Uh huh. And the people part?"

"Just to meet the locals."

"I don't think there'll be locals in a hotel like ours."

"Well, then, other tourists. They're not _so bad_," said Lucy. She said the word "tourists" too loudly for Molly's liking—she felt like the people around them who _might_ have been locals were then looking at them.

To Lucy, she shrugged, and ate her risotto as an excuse to not talk. The food here was good, too—they hadn't really had any bad dining experiences yet, but then again, they seemed to be in places known for food.

Soon they paid—and Molly noted that it was expensive with a frown—and headed for the art museum whose name Lucy was insisting Molly wasn't pronouncing right.

Well, nothing Italian sounded right in a British accent.

They had to take the canals to get there, which was less than pleasing to Molly at that point. Stunning as they were, the effects of the beauty had worn off in favor of her nerves. Lucy hadn't seemed bothered by anything they'd done, and sometimes Molly wished she could have been a little bit more like that, a little bit better with people and with fears.

But she also wished her sister would be quiet for a second.

"I bet the museum's going to be great; it has such great reviews online, and the tour books say you just _have _to go to the art places in Venice, and…." Again Molly stopped completely listening.

She _was_ looking forward to the museum—they were much more her scene than the shopping areas, at least, which were much more Lucy's style.

As if anything was Molly's scene at all.


	8. And an Evening

**Author's Note: And so we enter the rest of Day Two in Italy. Thanks for reading.**

**~Hannah**

* * *

_Like An Adventure_

_(After their years at Hogwarts, Molly and Lucy's mother, Audrey, decides that they don't know nearly enough about the Muggle world she was born in, and sends the two on quite the adventure around the globe.)_

_Chapter Eight: _And an Evening

* * *

Gallerie dell'Accademia lived up to their expectations.

Lucy insisted they spring for the headsets the museum offered that would explain things they saw in the museum. For six euros and a chance to block out Lucy's talking, Molly agreed. They picked up the English versions and set off through the art gallery.

It was, indeed, full of old Venice religious paintings. But they were beautiful, and Molly could appreciate them—as well as hearing someone's voice other than her sister's. Currently they were talking about the use of the color gold, as Molly moved in a semi-circle around the current room.

All of the paintings seemed very large, and she was getting a neck-ache from looking up at things, having to stay behind all the ropes and such. Not to mention she was tired from walking. If anything, at least Lucy's tirelessness was enough to generally keep her from complaining—but then, Molly couldn't tell how her sister was feeling all the time.

They moved on, and Molly looked at a painting called _Healing of the Madman_ by Vittore Carpaccio. According to the headset, it was part of the _Miracles of the True Cross Series_ and created in 1496. It was a nice city scene, but Molly wasn't sure she understood the titles.

They kept moving. She saw _The Feast in the House of Levi, _apparently from 1573, by Paolo Veronese. It featured archways and a group of people—that was all Molly saw in it. _"It's one of the biggest canvases from the 1500's…" _the headset continued explaining.

When it was done, Lucy poked Molly's arm, so she took the earpiece out temporarily. Lucy apparently just wanted to rant for a minute about the beauty of the paintings, so Molly let her, agreed by nodding and smiling as usual. She _did_ think the paintings were wonderful; she just didn't feel the need to try to talk about them. As if she could get a word in with Lucy, and as if she really knew anything about art.

Molly appreciated history, reading all the signs; Lucy appreciated art, her camera always on the paintings.

Eventually, Lucy was quiet, and they both went back to listening to the earpiece talk, continuing to move through the museum.

Molly looked at _Miracle of the Slave_ by Jacopo Tintoretto, from 1548 and about St. Mark. Honestly, a lot of the paintings were starting to blur together for her—she didn't understand all of the little things that Lucy apparently did.

But there were things that she knew more about than Lucy, so she tried to think of their knowledge levels being different in area but equal in quantity and quality.

It was getting later, and they had been through every area, Molly crossing them off on a map, so they decided to head back for the hotel via the canals to get to Happy Hour.

Molly was much less excited for that than she had been for the museum.

They took a break in the hotel room, Molly reading, Lucy watching some soap opera again. Molly wondered if she'd be able to persuade her sister to let her stay in the hotel room—they would split up, anyway, so what would it matter if Lucy went alone? She'd find people. And if it got late, Molly would go to find her.

She proposed this out loud, and surprisingly, Lucy said, "I guess you can stay here if you really want to."

Molly blinked. She was more voicing wishful thinking than actually trying to get Lucy to agree to it—she hadn't expected it.

"Okay," she said, still in shock. "Then I will."

So, soon, Lucy went down to Hell Kitchen, the wine bar in their hotel, and Molly stayed in the room.

She was alone; it was quiet; it was heavenly.

She laughed to no one and plopped down on the bed with her book again.

Two hours later, she was going out of her mind.

It had been silent for two hours, and she had grown unaccustomed to not hearing Lucy talk for that long. She turned the TV on to the (stupid) soap opera, but it didn't help.

Lucy was experiencing Venice without her, and here, in one of the most beautiful and historic cities in the world, Molly was locking herself alone in their room.

Something wasn't right there.

Molly looked out the window, but suddenly just looking out seemed lonely.

Was she really going crazy?

She had the urge to go to the bar, to be with Lucy in Hell Kitchen, to "join the party".

No. She didn't _do_ bars, Happy Hour, parties. Any of those things.

Yet then she was in the hallway, closing the door to their room behind her. She'd just go for a little while, to make sure that Lucy had some concept of sobriety and stranger danger, and see what it was like.

She slipped into the bar, and thought that it looked… normal. Almost like a restaurant. Grey surroundings with dully colored tables and chairs, the bar itself fairly average. It didn't look much like "Hell Kitchen".

It had a good crowd of people, who didn't seem too shady.

And she spotted Lucy, identifiable as the only other redhead in the room, through the crowd. She was talking to a group of people who all also seemed normal, and seemed fairly sober.

So… Molly didn't really have a reason to be there.

But… she _wanted_ to be there.

Not sure of what else to do, she thought of just joining Lucy's group of new friends, but then again, she didn't want her sister to know she was there, that maybe she'd been right about something.

Oh, screw it.

She made her way through the crowd, and just said, "Hi," awkwardly, at a lull in Lucy's conversation.

"Molly! You decided to come! Good, good. Everyone, this is my sister, Molly; Molly, this is Adamo and Eva and Nadia and Teo."

"Um… hello," she said to them, shuffling into their little circle.

Lucy wasn't saying anything about Molly deciding to leave their room.

Hmm.

They talked for a while, mostly Lucy raving about what they'd done in Venice, and Molly decided to quietly slip out to buy a drink. Just one—that she wasn't going to cave on—just to be normal. She took it back to the group and continued listening to them all talk, occasionally sipping her drink and not saying much, herself.

The wine _was_ nice—it was still Venice, after all, despite the name of the restaurant that she'd been suspicious of—and she tried to let it calm her nerves.

It wasn't working very well.

But she was happy to listen to the others talk. Apparently Nadia was the center of the group that Lucy had met—Teo was her boyfriend, Eva her best friend, and Adamo her brother.

They were all locals, oddly, who were just fond of the bar, and they didn't seem to have much of a problem with Lucy and Molly being tourists, although they seemed a bit skeptical when Lucy started telling them of their grand world trip.

"Well, we were in Madrid, then Paris, and now we're here! We leave tomorrow, but we don't know where yet."

"And you never open the envelopes ahead of time?"

"No. I really want to but Molly says we can't open them early." She pouted at her sister.

"Mum said not to," was all Molly offered.

Then they were all talking about their families—well, members who weren't there, and the conversation went from there.

Not much "exciting" was happening—just talking, some drinking. It wasn't as horrible as Molly imagined the night being.

And soon, it was over. It was apparently midnight, and the bar was closing, so they bid farewell to the group they'd met and headed back to their room.

That was it—they didn't have to keep in touch for the rest of their lives, they were able to make friends for just a day.

Huh.

Molly thought of Christelle and Genevieve and Isabella and the others they'd met. They didn't have to be best friends forever, just… acquaintances for a day.

She tried to shake off whatever had come over her during the night as she went to bed, although with all of Lucy's kicking, she ended up being awake for a while despite being very tired.

Tomorrow they'd be off to another city—and Merlin knew where that would be.


	9. Trains

**Author's Note: And we're… almost in a new city. Just a little transport chapter in between. Also, we're at the final four in the Long Haul Competition! Thank you for reading.**

**~Hannah**

* * *

_Like An Adventure_

_(After their years at Hogwarts, Molly and Lucy's mother, Audrey, decides that they don't know nearly enough about the Muggle world she was born in, and sends the two on quite the adventure around the globe.)_

_Chapter Nine: Trains_

* * *

In the morning, they opened the next envelope.

"Ooh, Vienna!" said Lucy, fussing over looking up things in her tour books (the only type of book Molly had ever seen her read, except for romance novels). Molly, meanwhile, looked at the rest of the important contents: more Muggle money, train tickets (she sighed in relief), and hotel reservations.

"Come on, we have to be at the… Venice Santa Lucia Train Station," she read, "pretty soon."

So Lucy finished her packing and getting ready, which Molly had already done.

Then, they were checking out, and off for the train station.

It was apparently right off of the Grand Canal, which meant one more gondola ride—Molly tried to appreciate it instead of feeling just nerves, but it seemed that without saving them for the plane, her anxiousness had to be taken out somewhere.

Finally, they were at the station, getting their luggage around the main problem—Molly packed much lighter than Lucy did, but having to pack for a trip that could go anywhere at anytime in bags that fit travel limits had been a challenge.

But then they found their next challenge: their train was delayed.

Molly groaned.

"More time to explore the station!" Lucy said cheerfully.

"Lucy, we have to stay somewhere that provides arrival updates."

Lucy pouted.

"Fine," Molly relented quickly. "I'll stay here with the luggage, you go explore. Take your phone and I'll call you if anything happens."

Lucy started to protest, then repeated, "Fine," and practically ran off.

Molly rolled her eyes at her sister and dragged their bags a few feet towards a bench, and sat. A delayed train—was there something wrong with it? Had there been bad weather? Was their trip going to be slow?

(While Molly worried….)

Lucy headed to the tourism office at the train station, and picked up some maps that would cover their trip to Vienna—they had a layover, so she tried to find out what she could about the other _two_ train stations they'd be at.

She wasn't really there for the maps (she was sure Molly already had them) so much as the people; but she used them as a starting point to ask about the other stations and the train and the route along the way.

No one had anything bad to say about them, but she didn't find anything particularly interesting, either, so she headed back to where Molly was, and plopped down on the bench.

"How long are we supposed to be waiting?"

"I don't know," said Molly, and so Lucy promptly jumped back up to go start asking people with nametags about it.

When she returned, she said, "It was delayed about twenty minutes, so it should be here any minute, now."

_Any minute now_ was what they always said. "Okay," Molly sighed.

Lucy sat again.

Molly got impatient, wanting to just be on the train already and hand over the stress to the conductor, but Lucy seemed quite content to go over the maps and tour books to see what could be seen on their journey.

Finally they were announcing, in varying languages, that they could board the train that had just pulled into the station, so Lucy and Molly went, put their luggage in the overhead compartments like on the planes, and then settled in to one of the booths.

Soon the train was pulling out of the station, and although she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was, Molly thought that there was a huge difference between the experience on this train and on the Hogwarts Express.

Lucy seemed torn on what to do, as the train wasn't packed and so they had the booth to themselves, and no one seemed to be travelling alone for her to talk to. Eventually she went back to the tour books and looking out the window, and Molly read. She felt much calmer on the actual train, with the constant sound of the tracks under them instead of air.

She could close her eyes and pretend that they were just going to school, although it'd been a while since she'd been on that train.

Eventually, though, she borrowed one of Lucy's tour books that covered Vienna and read that section, occasionally glancing out the window, but not nearly as much as her sister.

It looked like a bit of a dreary day outside, and she was glad to be on the move.

Their layover was in Villach, and they were waiting at the station once again. Lucy had finished her running about, finding food, taking much longer than she had in Venice, as it was a new city, so they were again waiting on a bench.

"So, what are we doing in Vienna?" Molly asked. In some cities their mother made certain plans for them, but Vienna's seemed to be fairly open.

"Definitely the zoo," said Lucy. "There are some museums, some palaces—the usual."

She babbled on about it for a bit longer, and Molly let her. It seemed that Lucy was indecisive when they were still just planning, and as Molly didn't have many strong feelings about what to do, she let Lucy talk through it all out loud.

The conversation continued as they got on the train—on time, thank Merlin—and settled back into what they'd been doing.

The second part of their journey felt longer, because Molly felt like they should've been finished travelling after the first train. But she tried to make herself relax, for a while tried to take a nap (and how she wished Lucy would do the same).

"The Albertina looks interesting," Molly said, on a museum in one of the tour books.

"Yeah, I think we'll go there," Lucy agreed. "And hit at least one palace."

Molly nodded.

As they continued on, Lucy seemed to work out a plan, and so abandoned her tour books and such, watching some show on her phone.

"Another soap opera?" Molly asked, seeming amused.

"No," said Lucy. "Show on Vienna."

"Oh," was all Molly got out.

And somehow within the next few minutes, she ended up watching it with her sister. It was hard to put into a genre—it was non-fiction, informative, like a documentary, but it was presented like a fictional story.

Time seemed to pass a bit more quickly with something new to focus on, and when they reached the end of the episode, they watched another. After the two, however, Molly grew tired of the television (well, phone), and went back to the book she'd been originally reading.

Lucy seemed to think that it was progress for her, however, and wanted to ramble about it for several minutes.

Molly vaguely listened, nodding occasionally and pretending to look up from her book. _"Was that so hard…?"_

When Lucy seemed to have quieted at last, watching the show on her own, there was an announcement saying that they were approaching the train station in Vienna.

Molly was relieved.

They pulled into the station—the weather in Vienna that day was nicer than it had been on most of their journey—and so they retrieved their luggage and got off the train.

"To the hotel," said Molly.

"To the hotel!" echoed Lucy.

They were staying at the Leonardo Hotel, and so they set out for the last leg of their journey before they could really rest, taking a tram.

Lucy pointed out things that they passed. It _was_ a very nice-looking city—there were a lot of beige colors and bright lights, bodies of water.

Finally they reached the hotel, where they checked in, and went up to their room, Molly checking everything before she put her bags down, and Lucy started unpacking.

Their room was also nice and also featured a lot of beige, highlighted with red.

"Please tell me we can have a quiet night," Molly said.

Lucy nodded, then yawned. "You win this time. Room service it is."

"Not yet," said Molly. "I need to get used to not moving first."

Lucy had to agree.

Molly just laid on the bed for a long time as Lucy unpacked, feeling unable to even look at the room service menu. She thought of everything they were going to pack into the next day in Vienna, and felt tired in advance, on top of what she already felt.

Eventually, though, she forced herself up, and said, "So? Austrian food?"


	10. The Vienna Zoo Experience

**Author's Note: **_**Now**_** we hit the new city. Vienna. Thank you for reading.**

**~Hannah**

* * *

_Like An Adventure_

_(After their years at Hogwarts, Molly and Lucy's mother, Audrey, decides that they don't know nearly enough about the Muggle world she was born in, and sends the two on quite the adventure around the globe.)_

_Chapter Ten: The Vienna Zoo Experience_

* * *

"_Rawr!_" Lucy gave her best impression of… a fox, which was in the cage before them and definitely not_ roaring. _

"_Very_ threatening," Molly drawled, using her sister's camera to take a picture of one of the foxes.

"It's a work in progress."

"I see."

Lucy snatched her camera back. "On to the cows?"

Molly wondered why there were cows in a zoo—surely they were farm animals, not zoo animals? But instead of voicing this, she said, "I was thinking we head the other way and see the bee collection."

Lucy's eyes widened. Then she shook her head quickly. "No."

"Just thinking," said Molly, and they continued in the opposite direction of the bees, towards the cows. Which Lucy again imitated (_"Moooooo."_) and took pictures of.

Molly read the signs about cows, and looked at them. They looked… like cows. Nothing special, and so she was quickly growing tired of the zoo. It also smelled, and the humidity wasn't helping. Molly remembered why she didn't like zoos in general.

They then continued on through a section of trees to the next exhibit. A… quite _long_ section of trees, and Molly asked, "Are we lost?"

"No," Lucy said in a way that really said _of course we're lost. _"Just follow the people."

That seemed to be Lucy's philosophy in general, and Molly felt like the shady space was claustrophobic.

Finally they arrived at an area of black bears, and the picture-taking and im_bear_ating took place again.

Molly decided that she liked the bears better than the cows as she watched them, but then Lucy was running off again, past the snakes—"_Penguins!_"

Indeed, there were. Lucy snapped the most pictures she'd taken of an animal yet, her face lighting up. Molly was glad that _someone_ was happy, although she and the penguins were not. The penguins were clearly out of their element, as was Molly.

"That one waved at me!" Lucy exclaimed, pointing to one of the birds.

"Uh huh."

"They're so _cute_! I want a stuffed one."

Molly smirked at this idea.

They explored the whole area, which Lucy seemed fascinated with—polar bears and seals, whom Molly also imagined weren't happy. Then again, she was sure that as far as zoos went, it was a very nice zoo, and the animals should've been happy.

There just happened to be, for the humans, ninety-two percent humidity in eighty-two degree heat, and her legs hurt.

They saw some kind of monkey, and then had to make a choice of where to go when they were presented with a circle on the map—so they decided to work their way around back to where they started, then head the other way.

They saw cheetahs, zebras, and some kind of… deer? They seemed to have hit the African over Antarctic section. The cheetahs and the zebras were interesting to her, at least, as well as the giraffes that came next.

Molly got the vibe that it was meant to be a very educational place, and that should've been her thing, but she could only read the same sign about the animal they were seeing being endangered so many times.

They looked at pandas (there were some cute baby ones) and hippos (_ulgh,_ thought Molly) and tigers and leopards (cats were all right), and then they were in fact back by the cheetahs. So they went to see the camels that were in the other direction.

"They're some of the most durable animals…" Lucy started rambling, and Molly tuned out most of the rest.

She drifted away from Lucy towards the anteaters, which were very strange looking. She didn't really want to look at them; she just wanted to get away from Lucy's babbling for a second. She felt like yesterday, somehow, even as a travel day, had been much more peaceful.

Lucy soon caught up to her, but wasn't overly fond of the anteaters, either, and so soon they moved on.

"Do you think we should stop and eat? Like, I don't want to stop going around the zoo, but I'm getting hungry. Would we have to sit down? Did you bring snacks? Are snacks even allowed? Ooh, are there any animals we can feed? Wait—what was I talking about? Food? Are you hungry?"

Molly noticed that Lucy had stopped talking, and so said, "I think we should stop and eat." Mostly she just wanted to sit down.

"Like, real food? You're hungry?"

She wasn't _that_ hungry, but she could eat if it meant a break. "Yeah, sure."

So they consulted their map, and to Molly's dismay, they were far from actual food. There was an ice cream parlor and two snack stands near them, but no real restaurants.

"I could settle for ice cream," Molly said, since she really didn't care about the food, but now Lucy was set on real food and so they had to walk all the way back by the penguins to find a place to eat.

There was a short wait, and soon they were seated in the shade with cold water and that was all Molly could ask for. Except, perhaps… being indoors.

They ordered, and with her light order, Molly noticed that Lucy didn't seem to be buying that she was hungry. "So… nice view of the penguins," she said, trying to distract her sister.

Lucy gave her a look. "Uh huh," she echoed Molly's words from earlier.

Their food came fairly quickly, and they ate. Again it was nothing special, really. But then again, maybe Molly was just in a mood.

_Zoos are just used to dealing with animals, _she thought. All zoos.

When they finished, Molly was reluctant to leave, but she had no excuses for staying, as she'd eaten all of her food already. So they walked around the areas that they'd missed rather than going back to where they were—wolves, elephants, the Australian section (kangaroos, alligators and koalas—at least they were cute).

Finally they got back to the place where they'd decided to get food, and went on to see flying things—bats, birds—before reaching rhinos, buffalos, (Africa again?), another type of deer, and—"Ponies!" Lucy squealed.

Molly rolled her eyes. The _horses_ her sister was referring to were hardly ponies. They were older and very large, but clearly domesticated horses. Lucy wanted to take many pictures of them anyway, ranting about how she was going to draw from them later.

She was so excited that the _little children_ with the camp group near them were looking at her strangely, and Molly wished they didn't look alike so she could claim to not know her.

Damn the Weasley red hair.

Molly was at least happy that it should've been their last exhibit at the zoo, but the entrance and exit were _so far away._ It _was_ a very large zoo, which she figured that most people would've appreciated, but their trip had been jam-packed with things and by that point she was just tired. Maybe with a rest day she would appreciate things more—but Lucy was never going to let her have a rest day.

They were, at least, on their way out of the zoo—but they had other things to do; they'd gotten an early start. But Molly felt as if she'd been up for ages, as they made their way out.

Just past the exit gate, Lucy said, "So, Albertina next?"

Molly forced herself to nod. Lucy was going to get her way in the end, so Molly had learned it was best to just agree from the start. And she was too tired to be doing the planning, herself, so she left it all up to her little sister.

Did she have that sort of energy when she was eighteen?

Then again, it had only been four years since then—so the trip came at a bit of a random time for her, but for Lucy, it was a graduation gift.

_Gift._

She was going to kill their mother when they got home. Why had Father agreed to this? Did he just want to let their mother torment them—well, _her?_

She plodded along with Lucy, who was thinking about transportation, as they always seemed to have to think about it.

Molly wanted to be _home,_ to not have to worry about travel-y things, to just be in her own bed.

She prayed she'd make it through this trip to see that day.


End file.
